IT didn't come as a shock to me that Kevin Keegan left the club this week.

The shock value came when Kevin first announced that he was going to leave City - so it was no surprise that the big day has come so soon.

It was almost an impossible situation. With Kevin saying he was going to leave, it was always going to be hard to attract players.

When you're in a difficult situation like that, there won't be many players who'll come to the club until they know who the new manager is going to be.

Alex Ferguson, Gary Megson and Gordon Strachan all tried doing it, but it just doesn't work.

Unfortunately, you can't plan that way, for how do you bring in new signings when you know the manager is going to leave?

It's true that clubs attract players, but so do managers.

It is a difficult situation and I do really appreciate what Kevin was trying to do. I know for certain that he was doing what was in the best interests of Manchester City, but unfortunately it's very difficult to run a football club that way once the manager has said he is going to leave.

It's a great chance for Stuart Pearce.

It gives him the chance to prove himself in the nine or ten games remaining.

He's worked hard to get this chance and the board have obviously got confidence in him. It gives him a chance to tighten up the defence, but whatever happens at the end of the season, whether Stuart gets the job on a permanent basis or not, I'm sure there's going to be lots of managers in the hat to take over at the helm.

It's a massive job.

Support

City is a great club with fantastic supporters. We're the third-best supported club in the country, so it won't be surprising that there will be lots of managers wanting the job.

Unfortunately, most of the people whose names are being bandied around already have jobs. Sam Allardyce, Iain Dowie and Martin O'Neill all have jobs, which makes it difficult to get them.

Gordon Strachan is the only one available at the moment.

To be honest, Strachan has done well as a manager, Iain Dowie is still learning his trade and had some good success, while Martin O'Neill is well-respected.

He's already said the ideal job for him was managing Celtic and he's been there five years, so I think that's a question of whether he wants to come back or not.

But my choice for manager - and this is my own personal viewpoint - would be Sam Allardyce.

I know Sam well and he's a great bloke and a great manager.

He's done wonders at Bolton, but again it's going to be hard to attract him.

He's Bolton through and through, and he's on a long, rolling contract and has a great relationship with the Bolton chairman.

Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll get a big manager in, but for the time being, Stuart Pearce has rightly been given the chance to prove himself.

There's no pressure on us now.

We're in relative safety and so in the remaining games, all Stuart can do is try to win as many as he can and try to persuade the board to give him the job on a permanent basis.

I'm sure the club has a list of managers who would interest them, but I'm also sure that they won't rush into anything.

The end of the season is probably when they will sit down, look at how well Stuart has done - and then see who they are going to ask to be the new manager for next season.